Page 5 - Unicorn Companies

Unicorn list declines in 2023, indicates slowdown in funding: Hurun report

New additions in the coveted unicorn list declined sharply in 2023, indicating a slowdown in the Indian startup ecosystem, a report said on Tuesday. India added only three unicorns startups having a valuation of over USD 1 billion in 2023 against 24 in the year-ago period, as per the ASK Private Wealth Hurun Indian Future Unicorn Index 2023. The slowdown in unicorn additions is indicative of a "slowdown in India's startup ecosystem", the report -- which comes amid a slowdown in investor interest in what is being termed as "funding winter" -- said. The overall number of unicorns also declined to 83 from 84 in the year-ago period. ASK Private Wealth's chief executive and managing director Rajesh Saluja said unsustainable business models adopted by startups have led to a dip in valuations but stressed that funding to the right companies continues. Hurun India's chief researcher Anas Rahman Junaid, however, said that the Indian startup story has high potential and he sees the overall

A hard lesson for Byju's Raveendran amid mass firings, delayed results

The former teacher from the southern state of Kerala got carried away. In 2015, just as a smartphone revolution was about to kick off in India, he launched a learning app

Unicorn CFOs: US leans more on outside hires than India, has older set too

Study by WalkWater Talent Advisors also points to gender disparity, with women CFOs only leading 4% of Indian Unicorns, compared to 17% in US

Physics Wallah to acquire 50% stake in Xylem for Rs 500 cr in 3 years

Unicorn edtech firm Physics Wallah has entered into a strategic partnership with Kerala-based edtech firm Xylem Learning, under which it plans to invest Rs 500 crore over a period of next three years, the company said on Sunday. The partnership is aimed to strengthen the presence of Physics Wallah (PW) in the southern market. "This partnership with Xylem Learning fills me with immense excitement and pride. It not only aligns with our shared vision of providing quality education to all but also propels us closer to our strategic goal of becoming the leading education platform in South India," PW Founder and CEO Alakh Pandey said in a statement. The partnership involves strategic equity and cash investments in Xylem and scaling up operations. "In three years we will invest Rs 500 crore to propagate the brave and unique "XYLEM model of Hybrid Learning" to other adjoining sister states - it is a special result-oriented plan of learning which has specially impressed me. "To do this it

Climate tech push: EV start-ups set to power India's next unicorn club

Corner a hefty chunk of investments despite ongoing funding winter; at present, Ola is the only unicorn among 970 homegrown enterprises in the EV space

Investors mark down 'unicorn' tag for start-ups, chase real deal

Entrepreneurs, however, also need to realise that down-rounds are not much of a deal

Gaming unicorn Mobile Premier League goes into global expansion mode

MPL recently launched its app in Nigeria, marking its first foray into the African gaming market. With this move, MPL is now present on four continents: Asia, North America, Europe, and Africa

ESOP payouts, buybacks plummet among Indian start-ups amid funding winter

While the funding slowdown has had no significant impact on the issuance of ESOPs, a liquidity crunch has caused the once-overflowing well of ESOP buyback programs to run dry

Woman-led edtech unicorn Guild lays off 172 employees for 'reorganisation'

he company had "identified the go-forward structure, roles, and skill sets needed to enable our strategy and create a more focused, seamless way of doing work at Guild," CEO told the staff

Ronnie Screwvala-led edtech unicorn upGrad records 10 mn enrolled learners

upGrad is evolving to become Asia's largest integrated learning, skilling, and workforce development and placement company

Online gaming unicorn MPL forays into Africa, launches its app in Nigeria

MPL, which became a unicorn in 2021, has partnered with Africa's gaming publisher Carry1st to launch in the continent

Thanks to funding crunch, India has not seen a new unicorn in over 6 months

This is the longest drought since August 2016 when it took 17 months for India to come up with a new unicorn

India retains third spot as a unicorn hub, shows Hurun report

The report also mentioned that India and China produce more offshore unicorns than any other country

Indian consumer tech sees huge value creation with $250 bn in valuation

The last five years have seen 4,351 consumer tech deals and $54 billion in deal flows in India, a new report has shown, adding that the Indian consumer tech space

Global investors slash valuation of Indian unicorns amid funding winter

Investors are looking to mark down the valuations of top Indian tech firms in the range of 20 per cent to 50 per cent, according to analysts

Snacks start-up Kikibix raises $300,000 from founders of nine unicorns, VCs

Nutrition snacking start-up Kikibix has raised USD 300,000 from founders and co-founders of nine unicorns, including Mama Earth, Pristyn Care, Fashinza etc, the company said on Friday. Early-stage venture capital firms Blume Ventures led the funding round and US-based Angelist also participated in the fundraising. Founded by paediatrician Ridhi Kaur in 2022, the company makes cookies in flavours such as Cranberry Oats, Gur Chana, Ragi Mocha, Coconut, Figs, and Date Almonds. Mama Earth Founder Varun Alagh, Mosaic Wellness Co-founder and CEO Revant Bhate, Pristyn Care Co-Founders Vaibhav Kapoor and Garima Sawhney, EaseMyTrip Co-Founder Prashant Pitti, Fashinza Co-Founder Abhishek Sharma participated in the funding round. Kaur said that in the last six months, the company had seen 10 times growth in its monthly revenues. The organization plans to use the funds to launch more product categories, build a team and enter more distribution channels across the country.

Edtech unicorn Unacademy lays off 380 employees in latest round of job cuts

The Softbank-backed start-up last laid off 350 employees in November

20 women-led startups in pipeline to become unicorn, finds a study

Around 18 per cent of India's unicorn startups are founded or co-founded by women and 20 other firms are in pipeline to become unicorn, a joint study said on Tuesday. The study conducted by TiE Delhi NCR, research firm Zinnov, Google, NetApp and venture capital firm Indian Angel Network found that despite comparable metrics, success, and high entrepreneurial intent, socio-cultural barriers hinder women founders' growth. "Approximately 18 per cent of India's total unicorns are founded by women, with 20 Potential Unicorns in the pipeline," the study said. The startups that are in the pipeline to become unicorns include WinZO, Doubtnut, Infinity Learn, Locus, Pratilipi, Portea, SirionLabs, etc. Women founded or co-founded start-ups that have already become unicorns include acko, BYJU's Pristyn Care, MyGlamm, MobiKwik, Open etc. The total valuation of unicorn built by women founders stands at over USD 30 billion and total equity investments raised by them is over USD 12 billion. The

India adds 23 unicorns in 2022, overtakes China for 2nd consecutive year

India overtook China by adding 23 unicorns in 2022 while the neighbouring country created 11 such startups with valuation of USD 1 billion or more, according to a report released on Wednesday. For the second time in a row, India topped China creating 23 unicorns in 2022, taking the total number of such high-value companies to 96, as against China's 11 in the year, said a reporty by IVCA-Bain & Co. However, this year's number is just half of the unicorns created in 2021 when it stood at a record 44, which took the overall number to 73 in that year. According to the report, nine of the 23 unicorns added in the year have emerged from cities outside of the top 3 metros, indicating a shift to more democratic funding geographically. This means that funding to startups in non-metros grew to 18 per cent of the total inflows share. The year also many investors raising their largest ever India-focused funds, the report said, adding the SaaS (Software as a Service)-based and fintech players .

India trumps China in unicorn creation for second consecutive year in 2022

Companies grow despite shrinking funding, regulatory challenges and lay-offs